Practicing Muay Thai defense

[Jay@NajaMuayThai]

Hey Guys!

I have been training Muay Thai for 3 months now, living the dream as I trained in Budokan Karate for 6 years about 5 yrs ago. I absolutely love my training and hopefully if my Kru feels my basics are good enough, put me in the ring mid next year.

The more I train I realize how important defense is in Muay Thai. Since I trained in Karate, I carry old habits when I try to defend jabs and cross, instead of catching or perrying I tend to use my karate blocks leaving my head wide open. Do you have any ideas how I can practice defense solo without a partner? One that I heard recently is to suspend tennis balls attached to a string from the fan and practice my defense...any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated...

-Jay

 

[jarrod]

training defense by yourself is difficult. the tennis ball from a string you described is a low-budget maze ball as used in boxing (though it's less common these days). it is used primarily for developing head movement.

hang the ball about head level, start it swinging, then shadow box in the path of the ball. try to make sure your balance is good, slipping a punch is only half the game, you have to be in position to counter strike. make sure you keep your hands up in case the ball/strike gets through. also focus on making the ball just barely miss. if your opponent misses wide you've wasted energy getting out of the way, plus you are out of position to counter.

hope this helps, happy training,

jf

 

[Bodhisattva]

Hey Guys!

I have been training Muay Thai for 3 months now, living the dream as I trained in Budokan Karate for 6 years about 5 yrs ago. I absolutely love my training and hopefully if my Kru feels my basics are good enough, put me in the ring mid next year.

The more I train I realize how important defense is in Muay Thai. Since I trained in Karate, I carry old habits when I try to defend jabs and cross, instead of catching or perrying I tend to use my karate blocks leaving my head wide open. Do you have any ideas how I can practice defense solo without a partner? One that I heard recently is to suspend tennis balls attached to a string from the fan and practice my defense...any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated...

-Jay

I don't recommend you solo train your defense, other than to shadowbox.

Use solo training time for the heavy bag, shadow boxing, strength and conditioning work..